My 52 12 months old husband desired to die at home but was unable to achieve this under California's End of Life Option Act.
A retired psychologist, voracious reader and avid amateur musician, a diagnosis of early dementia in 2020 brought him to a call: he wouldn’t allow his illness to rob him of his autonomy and his dignity. Instead, he would end his life before that happened. For him, it was price sacrificing a while if he could avoid the devastation that he knew awaited him when his illness took its course.
California's end-of-life law provides for legal and peaceful euthanasia, but just for those with a terminal diagnosis and lower than six months to live. This requirement effectively prohibits individuals with dementia from accessing euthanasia in California because they lose decision-making capability long before they die, six months after their death. Some find other ways to finish their lives: by abstaining from food and drinks or by utilizing more violent means. Others travel to Switzerland, the one country that gives euthanasia for non-citizens.
Since my husband couldn’t apply California law, he selected to die in Switzerland. After turning a knob that released a deadly drug into an IV on his wrist, he died peacefully inside moments, surrounded by his family and listening to his favorite Bach cello suite. This was the nice death he had wanted back home in California.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease, and greater than 11 million provide unpaid care. Unfortunately, the vast majority of individuals with Alzheimer's and other dementias are doomed to live with the implications of this deadly disease, which robs them of their personality and their ability to make decisions – some even for a few years before their lives finally end. Some prefer to let their illness take its course. Others, nonetheless, would favor to have the chance to finish their life before their illness robs them of their ability to make decisions.
After coming back from Switzerland, several other advocates and I founded a nonprofit organization to boost awareness of this issue and work to alter the law within the California legislature in order that patients with dementia who’ve the cognitive ability Make decisions, have the best to request euthanasia. State Senator Catherine Blakespear is committed to solving this problem and can creator a bill for the second time within the 2025 legislative session. Although the small print of the bill haven’t yet been finalized, it is predicted to alter the arbitrary six-month criterion that currently discriminates against individuals with dementia.
Too lots of us have watched helplessly as family members developed dementia, knowing that they’d never have voluntarily chosen to live out their final years affected by the devastating effects of their disease.
What in the event you were diagnosed with Alzheimer's or one other type of dementia? Would you wish to have the opportunity to decide on a dignified death like individuals with other terminal illnesses can in California? I do know I might.
Originally published:
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